Sprint Apple iPhone: Sprint Gives Apple Nice Boost During Holiday Quarter

Sprint Apple iPhone: When it comes to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone carriers in the United States, many people overlook the power of Sprint while they focus their attention on AT&T and Verizon.

These same people may want to rethink their position.

Earlier today, according to a report by AppleInsider, Sprint “announced its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012, revealing it sold a best-ever 2.2 million iPhones, bringing its total 2012 sales to 6.6 million.”

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While it may not matter much to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Sprint has likely taken notice that 38 percent of these sales were to new customers. In other words, people are moving to the Sprint network and then taking advantage of its partnership with the Cupertino-based company and its top selling smartphone.

As noted above, Sprint sold roughly 6.6 million Apple iPhones during 2012. How does this compare with other smartphone sales by the company? Overall, they sold 20 million smartphones during the 12-month period. This means that the iPhone accounted for approximately 33 percent of all sales.

While there is no way of saying for sure why Sprint was able to set this record during the holiday quarter of 2012, it may have something to do with the company’s 4G LTE network. The network is available in 58 cities and works both with the Apple iPad and iPhone 5. In the early parts of 2013, “the carrier expects to expand to nearly 170 more in the coming months, and construction has started in more than 450 cities.”

For a better idea of just how big this is for Sprint, consider this information from the same article:

“The 2.2 million iPhones sold by Sprint are an increase from the 1.5 million the carrier had activated over the last three consecutive quarters. The carrier had surpassed 1 million LTE smartphones just before the launch of the iPhone 5.”

What do you think about the sales numbers released by Sprint, pertaining to the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone? Were you expecting better or worse from the carrier during the holiday quarter?

Check back here for more updates on Sprint Apple iPhone.

DISCLOSURE: I have no positions in any stock mentioned.

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